The idea of marketing your business can be overwhelming, especially when you are a small business with a tight budget. The good news is that marketing doesn’t have to expensive and break the bank.

Here are our favorite budget friendly marketing ideas for small businesses.

1. Post great content

Your blog will be the foundation of all your other marketing efforts. It is where you send visitors, create relationships and get leads. Be sure to regularly post quality content that meets the needs and interest of your audience.

2. Create a Google My Business account

If you want your business to show up in local search, a Google My Business account is key for this. This will ensure that your business listing is not only visible on search, but on Google Maps as well.

3. Build a free or cheap email list

Every business owner should have an email list! But when you are just beginning, you probably don’t want to commit to the monthly fee that many email management service charge. Fortunately, most offer a free option for businesses with small email list. For example, MailChimp offers its service for free for businesses with less than 2,000 subscribers. And when you are ready to take things to the next level and increase your email list, aWeber is very affordable at $19 per month.

4. Contribute an article to an industry magazine

Advertising in trade magazines can be very expensive running in the thousands of dollars. But contributing an article? Absolutely free. Many magazines accept guest contributions, and let you promote your business.

5. Visit local networking events

Check out local business events on Meetup.com, or see who’s coming to your town.

6. Create an affiliate program

If you offer a digital product such as an ebook, set up an affiliate program with a service like E-junkie. At just  $5 dollars per month, you can’t go wrong here.

7. Host webinars on your site

Hosting webinars can be very expensive; however, there are some companies that offer free or low-cost options for small business owners. Some cheap options are WebinarsOnAir at only 19.97 per month or MeetCheap at 9.97 per month.

8. Create a Facebook group

Create a topical Facebook group that your prospects would be eager to join. Center it around a topic or theme, not around your business. For example, a marketer could create a group called “Marketing Tips for Small Business Owners”

9. Offer free info-product on your site

Create an ebook or other digital product to give away on your website. This is a great way to generate more visitors to your website.

10. Offer free info on social media

As a social media expert, I can’t leave this one out! Share valuable information with your social media followers, and become the expert in your industry.

I hope this 10 ways to market your small business on a budget are useful for you. What would you add to this list? How do you market your business on a budget?